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Second Battle of Stalingrad (Hitler's World)
The Second Battle of Stalingrad (5 July 1944 – 24 December 1944) was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia, on the eastern boundary of Europe. Marked by constant close quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians by air raids, the First Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943), which was fought between the German Wehrmacht's 6th Army led by General Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus and the Soviet Red Army's Stalingrad Front led by Marshal Vasily Chuikov, led to it being often regarded as the single largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare. The heavy losses inflicted on the German Wehrmacht made it arguably the most strategically decisive battle of the whole war. It was first a turning point in the European theatre of World War II; German forces never regained the initiative in the East until the Battle of Kursk, and withdrew a vast military force from the West to replace their losses. The German offensive to capture Stalingrad began in late summer 1942, using the 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army. The attack was supported by intensive Luftwaffe bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The fighting degenerated into building-to-building fighting, and both sides poured reinforcements into the city. By mid-November 1942, the Germans had pushed the Soviet defenders back at great cost into narrow zones generally along the west bank of the Volga River. On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the German 6th Army's flanks. The Axis forces on the flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. Adolf Hitler ordered that the army stay in Stalingrad and make no attempt to break out; instead, attempts were made to supply the army by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Heavy fighting continued for another two months. By the beginning of February 1943, the Axis forces in Stalingrad had exhausted their ammunition and food. The remaining elements of the 6th Army surrendered. The battle had lasted for five months, one week, and three days. The Second Battle of Stalingrad was one of the turning points of World War II, together with the Battle of Kursk and the Battle for Velikiye Luki. After the turning point at the Battle of Kursk, Adolf Hitler and the German Oberkommando de Heeres (OKH; Supreme High Command) wanted to make sure that the German failure to capture Stalingrad in 1942 was reversed, but to also make for propaganda, the German 6th Army was resurrected formed with fresh but heavily trained and made into a full fighting force once again. The 6th Army was this time prepared and trained specifically in dealing with Stalingrad, and become one of the largest military forces of the Wehrmacht, with over 1,550,000 troops (900,000+ Germans, 150,000 Romanians, 220,000 Italians, 200,000 Hungarian, 40,000 Hiwi) being deployed for the Second Battle of Stalingrad. On 5 July 1944, the German 6th Army launched its counter-offensive towards Stalingrad, a result of the decisive Axis victory in the Battle of Kursk. The resurrection of the German 6th Army led to it being one of the greatest revenge and symbolic battles in history. As the First Battle of Stalingrad was marked by constant close quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians by air raids, the Second Battle of Stalingrad was marked by new tactics and battalions developed by the Germans to play against the Soviet advantage; the Germans extensively used new Waffen-SS Suicide squadrons. Inspired by the Empire of Japan's kamikaze attacks, Waffen-SS Suicide squadrons were formed to wipe out Soviet armoured divisions and use nerve gas to kill a considerable number of Soviet soldiers hidden in trenches and buildings. By December 1944, the German 6th Army controlled over 90 percent of Stalingrad. The Red Army was able to inflict heavy casualties on the Axis Powers, but the German 6th Army were fully able to counter these defaults, swiftly taking out Soviet positions, halting offensives and burning out Soviet soldiers hidden in buildings. As in the first battle, the German Luftwaffe's Luftflotte 4 supported the German 6th Army's offensive by intensive bombing of Stalingrad that reduced much of the city and its infrastructure to rubble. On 24 December, as the ammunition and food had been exhausted ,the remaining elements of the Soviet Red Army in Stalingrad surrendered. The battle lasted five month, two weeks, and five days, which was one week and two days longer than the First Battle of Stalingrad. Category:Battles (Hitler's World) Category:World War II (Hitler's World) Category:Eastern Front of World War II (Hitler's World) Category:Battle of Stalingrad (Hitler's World) Category:Second Battle of Stalingrad (Hitler's World) Category:Hitler's World